WHEREAS, America’s airports mean
business – facilitating international trade and tourism that are critical to
this nation’s economy; and

WHEREAS, the United States exported more than $2.1 trillion in goods and
services in 2011, supporting 9.7 million American jobs; and

WHEREAS, more than 60 million international tourists visited the United
States in 2011 spending $153 billion, providing employment for 7.6 million
Americans, and $1.2 trillion in economic activity; and

WHEREAS, our government and business community have launched “Brand USA,”
a new tourism marketing entity that aims to increase the number of foreign
visitors by encouraging them to visit the United States; and

WHEREAS, the United States Government has committed significant resources
to expediting and improving the issuance of visas to increase the number of
international tourists and businesspeople who can visit our country; and

WHEREAS, in the summer of 2011 our nation’s largest international
airports were confronted with long lines and wait times at its international
entry points, caused by reduced funding due to the global financial downturn
that, in turn, lead to reduced airport staffing by federal government agencies;
and

WHEREAS, our nation’s airports are working to accommodate international
tourists and business people by constructing, modernizing and/or expanding the
facilities used by the United States Government for processing visitors and
providing airport staff to answer questions and assist passengers waiting for
entry into the United States; and

WHEREAS, since the summer of 2011, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection
Agency (CBP) has made significant progress in reducing wait times by increasing
the amount of staff at international airports and improving deployment models;

NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED that The United States Conference of Mayors calls on the Federal
government to further address these issues by:

Investing
additional resources in staffing for the CBP and the other agencies involved in
international entry at airports

Developing
performance standards to be followed by federal agencies involved in the
processing of international visitors to ensure sufficient staffing has been
provided to process visitors within 30 minutes

Providing
reports on daily wait times logged in 30 and 60 minute metrics.

Negotiating
International Reciprocity Agreements to increase the number of nations
participating in the Global Entry Program which expedites the processing of
visitors who register for the program

Instituting
a pilot program to allow an easier process for in-transit passengers using
United States airports to connect on international-to-international flights

Requiring
the CBP to install a minimum of 10 Global Entry kiosks at all large hub
airports processing international flights.